A Family Affair
by storm in a teacup
Summary: If anyone's interested... FINALLY COMPLETE!Jess's sister comes to town and Luke has to try and cope with another teenager on his hands he turns to Lorelai for support. And how does Rory feel now that Jess's attention is divided? R & R pls!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Gilmore Girls, I've just borrowed them for a bit.

This is set way back at the end of season 2-ish, so just bear with me!

Please feel free to review! Thanks for reading…

* * *

"Jess, my phone bill is huge. Is it really necessary for you to be calling home every single day? I thought you didn't even want to talk to your mom." Luke brandished the bill in front of him.

Jess didn't bother to look up from his book. "Yeah it's necessary. And I haven't been speaking to mom."

"Then… oh, is it Allie you've been calling?"

Jess sighed. "Yes, it's Allie, and just take it out of my paycheck, whatever."

Luke rolled his eyes and headed back downstairs. "Paycheck. You can't get one of those unless you do some work around here." he muttered to himself.

* * *

"Hay Jess! What's up?" said Lorelai cheerily, swinging onto a bar stool at the diner.

He just glanced up at her for a moment, and then resumed pouring her a cup of coffee.

"What? No merry smile for me today?" Lorelai put a hand to her chest in mock offence. "But that's not like you! Usually you're so cheerful. Come on. What about a song? You feel like singing me a song?"

"Yeah. It's called Shut Up and Drink Your Coffee." muttered Jess dryly, pushing the cup towards her.

Luke swiped at his nephew with a teatowel. "Jess! Don't be rude to paying customers."

Jess raised his eyebrows. "So that means this one's fair game until she pays her tab."

Lorelai grinned as she watched him walk away. "He's such a little ray of sunshine. I wonder where he gets it from…?" she turned her smile to Luke who was looking unimpressed.

"I hate it when you're in one of these moods. All chirpy and… blah it's disgusting."

Just then Rory strolled in. "Hi mom!" she greeted Lorelai, giving her a big hug. "And Luke! It's good to see you!" she enthused, taking a seat at the bar.

Luke shook his head. "Oh god, not you as well." He pushed a cup of coffee at her and went into the kitchen.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Rory.

Lorelai shrugged. "I think he likes us better when we're cynical."

"But we can't be! Not today! It's just one of those days when you have to be happy because the weather is so nice and it's a Friday afternoon, and the weather is nice…"

"I know, honey, I know. Come on, let's take our happiness home where it will be appreciated."

* * *

Later on that evening, Luke was closing up the diner, and was just wiping down the last tables when Jess appeared at the door.

"Hi."

Luke was semi-surprised that Jess spoke to him first. "Hi."

They were both silent for a while, until Jess spoke again. "Hay, um, would it be ok if… if Allie came and stayed for a bit?"

"Allie? Why?"

"I just… she just wants to get away for a while and I want to see her, so she said to ask…"

Luke seemed confused. "What, you like it here so much that Allie's jealous?"

"So can she?" demanded Jess.

"I don't think Allie's ever been out to stay with me. She asked to come out here?"

"Does it matter how it happened? Can she come?"

"Um… I don't know, there's not much room… I don't know where she could stay…"

"I'll figure something out later. I just want to know if you'd be ok with her coming out here for a bit."

Luke scratched his head. "What does your mom think about it? I just-"

Jess cut him off. "Luke, you know I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important! Please."

Luke was taken aback by the urgency in his tone. "Well, yeah, of course she can, just let her know that it's a small place and…"

Jess headed for the stairs, then stopped. "Thank you." he said grudgingly, and Luke just nodded, wondering what that had been about.


	2. Allie arrives

Jess was still moody and quiet for the next week, but Saturday morning saw him jumpy and absentminded.

"Did you get the order for that table yet? They've been waiting." Luke asked.

"What? Oh, yeah, sorry…" Jess wandered into the kitchen, and Luke just shook his head. When he came back out, he started wiping down the counter, staring distractedly out the window.

"Jess, could you pass me-" Luke was cut off, as Jess suddenly jumped over the counter, knocking a cup to the ground in the process, and ran outside. "Oh for god's sake." Luke grabbed the brush from behind him, and started to sweep up the broken cup.

"What the…" Lorelai got a fright from Jess, and spilled some of her coffee.

"Who's that?" Rory was craning her neck, trying to see what Jess was doing.

He had run up to a girl carrying a backpack, and was now hugging her excitedly. Rory watched with a frown as he took the girl's bag to carry it for her, and was leading her back to the diner, chatting animatedly, while she grinned at him.

Lorelai squinted to try and see the girl's face better. "No idea."

"She's pretty." muttered Rory, biting her lip.

"Ohh, no longer the fairest one of them all, huh? Don't worry sweetheart, I'll get the poisoned apple." grinned Lorelai, ignoring the withering look her daughter gave her.

Luke had just finished cleaning up, and was wiping his hands. "That would be Jess's sister."

Lorelai looked dismayed. "Oh no, there's another one?"

Just then Jess opened the door, pushing his sister in front of him.

"Hay, Unkey Luke!" she exclaimed, bounding towards him and throwing her arms around his neck. "It's been ages!"

After a moment's hesitation, Luke hugged her back, almost blushing at her enthusiastic welcome. "Hi Allie. Long time no see, huh."

Allie pulled away and grinned at him "Yeah, you don't visit nearly enough."

"Or ever." muttered Jess, making his way across the diner. "Come this way, I'll show you up."

Lorelai stood up. "Hi, so you're another of Luke's clan, huh?" she addressed the girl.

Allie turned to her, and smiled, "Yeah, luckily for me. I'm Allie."

"I'm Lorelai, and this is my daughter Rory."

Allie shook hands with both of them. "Wow, you have amazing eyes." She told Lorelai sincerely.

"Uh, thanks."

"Allie!" Jess called his sister sharply.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, and I'm sure I'll be seeing you guys around." She smiled again, and said bye, before following Jess up the stairs.

"Wow, are you sure she's related to Jess?"

Luke raised his eyebrows and nodded. "You wouldn't think so."

"You can tell who got the genes for social skills."

"She's a good kid."

* * *

Luke didn't see his niece or nephew for the rest of the day. Jess had taken Allie for a tour around Stars Hollow, and as that was over quickly, he borrowed Luke's car saying that Allie needed to buy a couple of things, and that was them gone until late that night.

He was closing up the diner around nine when Lorelai wandered in.

"Hay, serve one more customer?"

He smiled. "Of course."

She sat and drank coffee while he finished wiping the tables and putting up the chairs.

"So, where are those kids of yours at?"

Luke shrugged. "No idea. They've been gone nearly all day."

"And you're not worried?" Lorelai was surprised. Usually Luke would be raging if Jess had just disappeared.

"Nope. Well, not really. I think they're just really happy to see each other, and just wanna catch up. I hope."

"So how long is Allie here for?"

Luke moved around the back of the bar, tidying things away. "I don't really know. Indefinitely I guess. I haven't asked."

Lorelai sighed. "Luke, do you know what you're doing?"

"What?" Luke asked, both curious and skeptical about what Lorelai would say.  
She pushed her hair back and sighed again. "It was hard enough for you to take Jess in, it's still hard for you now, I mean he's not exactly kid-of-the-year or anything. And now another teenager? Which happens to be his sister… you know, peas in a pod and all. I just hope that you've thought about what it might be like… that's all." She chewed on her bottom lip, half-nervous about Luke's reaction. He'd got mad at her for a lot less than that before.

But he just leaned on the bar, and scratched absentmindedly at a knot in the wood. "I have thought about it, Lorelai. But I don't see how I can turn either one away. I'm their uncle, and I didn't have a lot to do with them as kids, and I should have, so here's my opportunity to do something for them, and we'll just have to see how it turns out."

Lorelai nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway," Luke stood up straight and poured himself a drink. "Where's that kid of yours tonight?"

"Out with her boyfriend." grumbled Lorelai. "And they didn't want me tagging along. So I was all alone on a Saturday night, till I thought, what other sad old adult would possibly be in need of some company on a Saturday night… and so I decided to come and see you." She grinned as Luke narrowed his eyes at her.

"I had a big night planned before you came along, I'll have you know…"

"Uh-huh."

"…cleaning… and…"

"Uh-huh."

"…and fixing my toaster… and…"

"Uh-huh."

"…and… other stuff…"

"Uh-huh." Lorelai was nodding with mock seriousness.

"Oh never mind." Luke gave up. "I'm currently available all night."

Lorelai raised one eyebrow slyly, and Luke's cheeks grew hot as he realized how that must have sounded. "Uh, um… how's the Rory and Dean thing going anyway?" he covered.

"I don't know. I thought she was all for it and totally in love with him and all that, but she just seems kind of… weird. I don't know. I'm sure she'll make up her mind soon enough."

Neither of them said anything for a long while, then Lorelai broke the silence.

"Ok, I'm gonna go home and wait up for that daughter of mine so I can give her the third degree." She picked up her things and started for the door.

"Let me drive you home." offered Luke. "It's late, and dark… and I don't have a car…" he remembered that Jess and Allie had taken it.

"I'm fine."

"I'll walk you home." he suggested, grabbing the diner keys.

"No, it's ok…"

"Yeah I'll walk you."

"Luke, I'm fine, I mean, it's Stars Hollow." protested Lorelai, but Luke was already out the door, holding it open for her.

"Come on. It's not like I have anything better to do." he said wryly, and flicked out the lights as she stepped outside.


	3. Confusion

Rory quickly scanned the diner before following her mother inside.

"Do we have to come here all the time?" she muttered.

"Excuse me?" taken aback, Lorelai turned to face her daughter. "Did I hear you correctly? Do my ears deceive me? You know how much coffee our bodies require! You want to deny them that?"

"No… it's just that we're here all the time, and there are certain people who are also here all the time that I would rather not have to see… all the time." explained Rory, delicately.

"Luke would be very offended to hear you say that about him." Lorelai said, feeling like winding Rory up, as Luke approached them.

"Why am I offended?" he asked, ushering them to a table.

"Rory says that you're here all the time and she doesn't want to see you anymore."

"No! That's not what I meant!"

"Why don't you want to see me?" demanded Luke.

"Well that's what you said, isn't it?" remarked Lorelai at the same time.

"No! I said…"

Luke put his hands on his hips. "You know that I own this place, right? That's why it's called Luke's, and I live just upstairs which is also why you may see me here all the time?"

"It's not actually just a big coincidence as some people would have you believe." added Lorelai unhelpfully.

"No!" Rory protested. "It's not you! I love seeing you, Luke. I look forward to it…you are the highlight of my day, and …you know, that kind of thing…"

"But you said that you didn't want to see him." Lorelai reminded her, suppressing a grin.

"That's not who I was talking about." Rory glared at her mother pointedly.

Lorelai tapped her chin, playing dumb. "Then who…?"

"Can we just drop it?"

"Ohh!" Luke caught on. "Don't worry, Jess isn't here right now anyway. He and Allie are out getting… actually I have no idea what they're doing, but the point is, he's not here."

"So you two still aren't talking?" Luke carried on. "Coz I don't know what you were fighting about, but it's been a couple of weeks…"

"We're not… we weren't fighting. We just had a misunderstanding."

Luke looked at her blankly. "Ok. So, I'll get you guys some food."

As soon as he had turned away, Rory glared at her mum. "I can't believe how you just turned on me like that! On your own daughter! It was disgusting."

Lorelai shrugged. "Sorry honey, but as your creator, it is my divine right to pull your strings as I see fit."

"But you're meant to always be on my side, for better or worse till death do us part!" insisted Rory.

"Ohh… see that must be what the problem was, I never realized those vows were about kids… I was under the impression that they were for marriage… sorry darl, my mistake."

* * *

"Wow. I can't believe that you've survived here for so long! This place is tiny!"

"Well, it gets kinda… homely after a while."

Allie raised her eyebrows disbelievingly. "Really Jess. You have a soft spot for this… village? Who would have thought…"

It was Monday afternoon, and the pair were wandering around Stars Hollow for lack of better things to do.

"I'm just used to it, that's all." He produced a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, and lit one, offering the packet to Allie.

"You're still keeping up that disgusting habit?"

He shrugged. "Yep. You?"

"Yep. Haven't got round to giving up yet." She took a cigarette and lit it while Jess grinned and shook his head.

They sat down on a bench, and Jess pulled out a paper bag of gummy snakes.

Allie chewed on one thoughtfully in between puffs. "So you ever gonna come back home?"

"Depends. I'll have to wait and see how things turn out."

Allie followed her brother's gaze to where Rory and Dean were walking together coming towards their bench. Rory had caught sight of Jess and Allie too late to change her path, and began looking increasingly nervous and annoyed as she approached. She grabbed Dean's hand pointedly as they stopped in front of them.

"Hello." she said as civilly as she could manage.

Jess was leaning back casually, enjoying Rory's discomfort and Dean's angry glare.

"Afternoon. Allie, you remember Rory from the diner?"

"Vaguely." Allie shrugged and gave a halfhearted smile. She wasn't trying to be rude, but she was well aware of the tension in the air, and didn't understand what it was about.

"And this is her… boyfriend, Dean." continued Jess.

Rory cleared her throat. "Um, this is Jess's sister."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Great, just what this town needs, another teenage delinquent." he muttered, ignoring Rory elbowing him sharply in the side.

"It's lovely to meet you too, Dean." said Allie loudly. "What a charming boyfriend you must be."

"Snake?" Jess held up the paper bag to Rory. "They're gummy."

"None for me."

"What about you, Dean? Please, help yourself. Or how about a cigarette?"

Dean glared as Jess took a long drag.

"Come on, Rory. Lets go."

"Yep." They left, and Rory tried to walk quickly, aware of their eyes on her back.

"So what was that all about?" questioned Allie as soon as they were out of earshot.

Jess just shrugged. "Nothing. He's just a jerk."

"And…?" pressed Allie. "You've so obviously got it bad for that girl."

"What? I have not!"

"It's ok, I won't tell that you have a crush."

"I haven't!" Jess insisted, but sighed as his sister stared at him, eyebrows raised, waiting for him to come out with the whole story. "Ok. Maybe I kinda like her a little bit…" he glanced at Allie who was still waiting for him to spill. "Ok! Since the beginning, I've kinda wound Dean up… a little… so he doesn't like me, and he gets mad if Rory spends any time with me, but she's really great, you know? And… and a couple of weeks ago, we were at this… wedding, and we… she kissed me… and that's all. Now she's like all mad and weirded out by it, but she's still with Dean. What am I meant to do?" he looked at Allie helplessly.

Allie stubbed out her cigarette. "No wonder she's mad at you."

"What? Why?"

"She made the first move?"

"What?"

"Jess. That's pathetic. Really. I mean, you like this girl, who has a boyfriend, and you make it obvious to her that you like her, but don't do anything, and then she has to kiss you first? She has every right to be mad."

Jess sat up, confused. "What!" he repeated. "How can she be mad? I never made a move because of Dean!"

Allie shook her head exasperated. "You have no idea, do you Jess? She's the one with the boyfriend, and she kissed you, so technically, she's in the wrong. What was supposed to happen was that you were meant to kiss her, so she could kiss back and stuff, and then push you away and protest, and then go back to her boyfriend, and be all mad at you, and be like 'oh the cheek of that Jess…' but secretly like it. You know, that kind of thing. But you screwed it all up by making her do it, and now she can't blame you, only herself, and because she had to make the move, now she isn't so sure that you even wanted to kiss her in the first place. So no wonder she's mad at you."

Jess looked even more bewildered. "And I'm supposed to be able to figure all of this out?"

Allie shook her head patiently. "Of course, Jess. It's so obvious."

* * *

That evening, Rory was in the video store, trying to pick something for her and Lorelai to watch. She was reading the back of a video case, when she suddenly became aware of someone standing near her.

She looked up and groaned. "What are you doing here?"

Jess faked surprise at seeing her. "Rory! Nice to see you. Well I was actually looking to buy a cat, but they don't seem to sell any in here… I might check out the back."

Rory felt like she had seen Jess about a hundred times in the past couple of days, and was sick of it because every time it made her jump and get butterflies, and then she'd be annoyed for getting the butterflies, and annoyed at him for acting so nonchalant around her. She narrowed her eyes. "Ha ha. You know, could you just… not be here all the time?"

"What, like here? The video store? This is the first time I've been in here for about a month, I swear!"

"No, I mean, could you not be where I am all the time."

"Ohh…" Jess raised his eyebrows, looking faintly amused. "You think I'm following you or something?

"No… but-"

"You think that this is planned? Me trying to be in your face all the time? It hasn't occurred to you that the miniscule size of the town may have something to do with the fact that we happen to see each other everywhere? And also the fact that you spend a lot of your time in the diner - where I work and live?"

Rory blushed, wishing she had never said anything. Her request didn't sound as reasonable as she had originally thought it would.

"Hay, what about this one?" Allie suddenly appeared, brandishing a video, and somewhat breaking the tension. "Oh, hi Rory! How's -"

"Yep, that one's great, lets go." Jess pushed past Allie and headed to the counter. Allie chewed on her lip and gave Rory a quick smile before following her brother.

* * *

"The popcorn's nearly ready! What'd you pick?" called Lorelai as she heard her daughter coming back into the house. When there was no answer, she ventured out into the living room, where Rory was kicking off her shoes and looking stormy.

"Dare I ask again… what'd you pick?"

"What? Oh I don't know." Rory gestured absentmindedly towards the video she'd tossed onto the couch.

"Ok. What's up?"

Rory took a breath. "Ohh, he's just so infuriating! He's always… there, and always so annoying…-"

"I assume we're talking about either Dean or Jess." interrupted Lorelai.

"Jess, of course!"

Lorelai held up her hands in defense. "Of course, of course. Silly me to assume that when you say 'he' you're not talking about your boyfriend…"

"Mom!"

"Sorry honey. Carry on venting." Lorelai took a seat on the edge of the couch.

Rory ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know, he just makes me so mad, I'm just sick of him!"

"Well surely he can't be bothering you too much at the moment, coz he's been spending heaps of time with Allie."

"Allie! Ohh don't get me started on her!"

Lorelai was genuinely surprised. "What's wrong with her? I think she's very nice, not nearly as pessimistic and cynical as her male relatives, which I find very surprising because I really thought that in their case those were hereditary family traits."

"She's just always there as well! Just hanging around… hanging with Jess…"

"But Jess and Allie-" Lorelai didn't get to finish.

"Exactely! Jess and Allie this, Jess and Allie that… what are they Siamese twins? Joined at the hip?" Rory stopped pacing, and looked at her mother who was trying not to laugh.

"What? Are you laughing? This is serious!"

"Oh my god, I can't believe it!" giggled Lorelai.

"What?" demanded Rory, frowning.

"You are so totally jealous!"

"Jealous? Of what?"

"Of Allie of course! I should've seen it before."

"That's insane! Why would I be jealous of Allie! She's too annoying."

"Annoying because she's hanging out with Jess - quite rightly, may I add as they are brother and sister - and he's been spending so much time with her that he hasn't had time to follow you around and make Dean jealous!" Lorelai was quite pleased with herself that she'd figured it all out. Rory, however, was not at all pleased at being called jealous, and said so.

"Why would I care what Jess does? I'm with Dean." Rory stated, just as much to remind herself as to remind her mother.

Lorelai smiled sympathetically. "Sweetie, it's ok… well, it'd be a lot more ok if it wasn't Jess that was involved… Come on, lets forget about it for now and watch this movie."

Rory nodded resignedly, adding "I'm not jealous though." And tried to suppress the hollow shock that she felt with the realization that jealous was exactly what she was.


	4. Suspicion & confrontation

"What do you want me to do?" asked Allie, trying to stay out of Luke's way as he rushed around the diner trying to get things organized for the morning rush.

"Nothing, it's fine. Just have breakfast, or something."

"Luke, I know we haven't really talked about it, but you don't have to worry, I won't be here for long. Just visiting."

Luke stopped long enough to see the seriousness of Allie's expression. "You can stay as long as you like, you know that."

She shook her head. "Thanks, but strictly visiting. But while I'm here reaping the benefits of your hospitality, at least let me help out around the diner a bit, you let Jess do it, and he obviously… loves it." Allie said hesitantly catching the thunderous look on Jess's face at being forced to clean so early in the morning.

"I don't let Jess work here, I make Jess work here in an effort to keep him out of trouble. And yeah, ok, you can help out, especially since you seem a little cheerier than your brother first thing in the morning. Wipe down those tables, would ya? And thanks, Allie." He threw her a cloth and a smile.

A little later, the tired looking Gilmore girls arrived. "Morning." Luke greeted them, but they weren't quite up to chatting.

"Need. Coffee. Now." They grabbed a cup of coffee each, and eagerly drank, sighing as they did so.

After about ten minutes, Lorelai decided that she had consumed enough caffeine to reboot her system, and could now attempt conversation.

"You'd better not let the officials see the child slave labour thing you've got going on here." she commented, nodding her head towards Jess and Allie who were going back and forth to the kitchen taking orders and serving up food to the morning crowd. "But if you let me in on the profits, I've got a kid you can use." She nodded towards Rory, who elbowed her indignantly.

Luke gave a small smile. "It's ok, my scheme's safe for now. I've mostly been keeping Allie out the back."

"Are we talking zoo cage or big Silence of the Lambs style hole?" asked Rory, reaching for a doughnut.

"I've released her from captivity – probation only. She wanted to try her hand in the kitchen."

"And how's that working out?"

Luke bit his lip. "Umm, not so good this morning… I've been hoping that she'll improve…" he was interrupted by a loud crash and a series of curses.

They could hear an exasperated yell, and Allie's muffled "I can't do this!"

"I guess she needs a little more time." said Lorelai knowingly.

Rory giggled. "She'd fit in great in our kitchen." And then stopped laughing as she remembered that she wasn't really supposed to like Allie.

Five minutes later, there was another crash and more swearing, and Allie came out with a bundle of paper towels pressed into her left hand.

She forced a smile and made for the door. "Morning all. Uh, Luke I'm just going to pop down the road for a minute, I need to get some…"

"What the…? Allie, is that blood?" he pointed down by her feet, where a couple of red drops had fallen.

"Um, no…" she murmured, her eyes wide.

"Oh, not again." He strode towards her, and grabbed her hand. The paper towels were half-soaked in blood from a gash across her palm.

"I was just chopping, and then that stupid giant knife just sliced my hand, and I was being careful and everything, honestly!" the words came out in a rush.

"Caesar!" called Luke. "I'll be back in a few minutes!"

"I'll man the fort." offered Lorelai. "I'm very efficient, trustworthy and reliable. And I want to drink the entire pot of coffee unsupervised."

Luke ignored her. I'm gonna take her down to the A and E. She's already been there twice this morning." He bustled Allie out of the door. "You are never setting foot in that kitchen again. Ever."

"Well, I guess the culinary skills skipped a generation." commented Rory, turning back to her coffee.

* * *

Allie had come back from the A and E with a couple of stitches and a big awkward bandage wrapped around her hand which made it difficult for her to do much around the diner, and after dropping her third plate, Luke had calmly sent her outside until further notice. It was over an hour before he came out to see her, and it was only to give her a list of a few things that he needed from Doose's Market. 

She wandered over, never really having been in the market before. "Very exciting." she murmured to herself, feeling a little homesick for the city.

It didn't take long for Allie to discover that picking up and holding things proved to be very difficult with the bandage, and as she dropped the bag that she was trying to fill with onions, she swore in frustration.

"Godamit!" she bent down to pick up the onions rolling about her feet.

"Hay, let me help you with that."

Allie looked straight up into Dean's eyes, and his expression quickly changed as he saw whom he had offered his help to.

"Oh… it's you…" he said guardedly.

"Hi. Um, I'm fine here, thanks." Allie tried to sound convincing as she fumbled with the bag.

Dean's manners got the better of him, and he knelt down to help. "Look, I'm sorry about the way I acted the other day, I wasn't in a very good mood."

"Oh, that's ok… I know that you and Jess aren't exactly the best of friends, so I was hardly expecting you to be over the moon at meeting his sister."

Dean avoided her gaze for a bit. "Yeah well, I'm sure I could've at least managed a hello or something. So, sorry."

"Thank you." said Allie as they both stood up. "And thanks for this, I'm acting like an invalid."

He grinned. "That is a rather large bandage. What happened? Some sort of chainsaw accident?"

She laughed and told him how her cut had resulted in her being banished from Luke's until she could be trusted not to break everything she touched, so Dean took the list and showed her where to find everything.

"Let me help you carry that stuff back to Luke's." offered Dean, indicating the bags of groceries that she had ended up with.

Allie shook her head. "Oh, no way, you've helped heaps already, I can manage." But he had already picked up most of the stuff and was on his way out the door, leaving one bag for her to carry. She caught up with him.

"Thanks. I've hardly had to do anything, I feel like I have a servant or something. It's great."

"Don't get used to it." he smiled as they made their wayback to Luke's.

* * *

As luck would have it, Rory and Lane were in the music store looking at some of the new albums, and Rory looked upjust asDean and Allie were going by. 

"I don't believe it."

"I know! I can't believe they released another album either! They're just so terrible!" exclaimed Lane.

"No, not that… that!" pointed Rory.

"That's Dean. And… Jess's sister?"

"Yeah… what are they doing?"

Lane squinted. "I'd say that he was carrying some groceries for her. He really is a gentleman you know."

Rory sighed, exasperated. "Thanks for that, Lane. I really want to see my boyfriend being a gentleman to other girls. But what are they doing together? Dean doesn't like her… I mean, she's related to Jess, he shouldn't like her."

"You don't know that he likes her from that… maybe she's just following him… or maybe he's trying to steal her groceries but has to wait until she's not looking…"

"He works at the market, he doesn't need to steal groceries."

"…or maybe he's going to lead her into an alley and then throw onions at her…"

"Look, they're laughing!"

"…maybe he's making fun of her and laughing at her…"

"Thanks Lane, but maybe they're just walking and talking. So now Dean likes her, Jess likes her…"

"To be fair, he may just be pretending to because they're related." Lane pointed out helpfully.

"My mom likes her, which I don't get because she really doesn't like Jess, even Taylor likes her."

"Taylor likes her?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."

"I think you'd be safe to say that simply because she's related to Luke, Taylor doesn't like her. So I take it you don't like her?"

"I don't know. I mean, she hasn't done anything, but…"

"That's ok." said Lane. "I don't think I like her either."

"Really?" Rory looked pleased. "Thanks Lane."

Lane nodded thoughtfully. "Although I've never actually spoken to her…"

"That doesn't matter… but maybe, just don't speak to her in case you change your mind." advised Rory before turning back to the CDs.

* * *

"Do you mind if I don't come in?" Dean stopped at the door of Luke's. "It's just that…" 

Just then, Jess came out with a bag of rubbish, which he tossed in the bin. "Oh look… taking time out of your busy day to help teenage delinquents, are we Dean?"

Allie sighed. "Oh, for god's sake."

Dean set the groceries on the footpath. "I'll just leave these here for you." he said to Allie, trying to ignore Jess.

"What a knight in shining armor you are." Jess continued sardonically. "And speaking of armor, that apron looks really good on you, I think you may be onto a new summer fashion."

"Whatever Jess. I'm sure you know all about fashion, with your troubled street kid/James Dean wannabe look you got going on."

Jess nodded. "Uh-huh right. You know, you're gonna make a great housewife someday, Dean. And whoever the lucky guy is, I bet he'll be very happy." retorted Jess.

Dean was trying to stay calm, but his face was going red and his fists were clenched. "Yeah, well at least I'm gonna make something of myself someday Jess. You'd better get used to carrying out the trash, because that's about all your good for."

Jess took a step forward, gritting his teeth.

"That's right." Dean carried on. "Send me the address of whatever dumpster you're living in, and I'll be sure to send you a postcard."

Jess looked like he was going to pounce on Dean, so Allie decided that that was enough.

"Ok, Jess, come on." She stepped in front of him and pushed him towards the diner door. "Lets go. Thanks for carrying the groceries, Dean." She said over her shoulder, and shoved Jess into the diner. "Get inside, and here, take these." She pushed her bag of groceries at him, and when he was safely inside and when Dean had left, she deemed it safe to turn her back to pick up the other bags.


	5. A change of heart

"Lorelai? Are you home? The door was open." Luke called out as he wandered into the house.

"Luke? Is that you?"

He followed the voice to the kitchen, where Lorelai was perched on the table eyeing the fridge warily.

"Luke, I'm scared!" she whined.

"What? Is everything ok?" Luke asked in concern, going over to her.

"Thank god you're here! I was going to try and clean out some of the stuff in the fridge since you said you'd be over to fix it, but I swear that something is alive in there… I think it growled at me… and then stuff started dripping out the bottom-" she pointed to a grimy looking pool seeping out from under the fridge. "…and I don't know what to do… I'm scared and alone, and so glad you're here now!" she grabbed onto his arm, and put a hand to her forehead, pretending to faint.

He pushed her so she was sitting up straight. "Drama queen." But he couldn't help laughing at the pathetic look on her face.

"Ok, I'm fine now." she grinned and snapped her fingers. "Get to it, fix-it boy! I'll just sit here and… supervise."

Luke rolled his eyes, and pulled some tools out of the bag he was carrying, and got to work inspecting the fridge.

They chatted idly for a while, and then the phone rang.

"Are you gonna get that?" asked Luke after Lorelai showed no sign of moving from the table.

"Don't be silly. I have a machine to take care of that kind of thing."

The machine clicked on, and Chris's voice came across.

"…Hi Lorelai, it's Chris… obviously you're still avoiding my calls, but please call me back, we really need to talk about this… I'll try again later so that I can talk to Rory… ok, bye."

"Ohhhhh, shut up." Lorelai told the machine, irritated.

Luke stopped what he was doing to look up at her. "Trouble in paradise?"

She made a face at him and was silent for a while deciding whether she wanted to talk about it. She did. "Well… I found out a couple of weeks ago that the father of my child is going to also be the father of someone else's child. Stupid Sherri's child."

"Oh… I guess that must be kinda weird."

"Yeah, it is! So now he's going to have this whole other kid and stuff…"

"It's a good thing that you guys weren't together though…" Luke stopped short at the look on Lorelai's face. "Were you?"

She shrugged hesitantly. "Well… we sorta were… wehad this amazing weekend, and talked about getting back together and then he found out about Sherri, and... andhe made his choice."

Luke's expression was a mixture of disappointment and unease. "Right."

"But it's over for us. Me and Chris." Lorelai reassured him. "I know now that it wouldn't have worked, but it's just weird to think that he'll be another kids dad."

"It doesn't mean that he'll stop being Rory's dad. He'll always be there for her. And for you."

"I know…"

"And you've got heaps of people in this town who will always be there for you too, no matter what." Luke told her sincerely.

"I know." Lorelai did know, and she also knew that she was lucky to have a friend like Luke who would do anything for her, and as she watched him kneeling on her kitchen floor, cursing at her fridge, her stomach jumped a little, in a way that she hadn't felt in a long time.

* * *

It was getting late, and Rory hoped that Luke's would still be open; she'd left a textbook there this morning, and now really needed it.

"Hi, is my…" she stopped as she saw that Allie was the only one in the diner, and was sitting up at the bar drawing in a scrapbook.

"Hi!" said Allie brightly, putting down her pencil.

"Um… I was just wondering if I left a textbook in here this morning? Have you seen it?"

Rory stepped forward hesitantly.

Allie nodded, reached behind the bar and held up a book to Rory. "This the one? Looks interesting."

"Thanks." Rory took it and tucked it into her bag. "Ok, well I'll be going."

"Do you want some coffee? I've got some fresh stuff here… or a soda? There's some in the fridge."

"Uh, no thanks… I should really just go home…" Rory felt bad at the earnest look on Allie's face and changed her mind despite her original dislike for the girl. "Actually, yeah, I could do with a coffee, I'll have to get some study done at some stage tonight, so I'll need to be awake." she sat up next to Allie feeling a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

"Great!" Allie poured Rory a cup and pushed it toward her. "Hay, I hear that you're gonna go to Harvard! That's so cool."

"Yeah, well, I've applied, so I just have to wait for their reply. It's kinda hard though, my grandpa went to Yale, and really wants me to go there, and it's caused a bit of tension between him and my mom who doesn't want me to be pressured into anything… so I don't know." Rory sighed and twirled a spoon on the bench.

"I'm sure that when the time comes, you'll know what you wanna do regardless of what anyone else thinks. You'll just know… gut feeling." Allie assured her.

"I hope so. So are you gonna go to college? You've finished school?"

"Yeah, I've finished, and no probably not. I don't think college is really for me."

"Don't you wanna do something, though? Like something more?"

Allie hesitated. "Well, actually, I was thinking about art school. I mean, maybe, it might be quite cool."

Rory smiled. "Yeah! That would be cool. So where have you applied?"

"Oh… oh no, I'm not actually gonna apply… I was just thinking about it."

"But how do you expect to get in if you don't apply?"

"Well… I don't. I probably wouldn't get in to any of the places. It was just a thought." muttered Allie, avoiding Rory's gaze.

"Don't be stupid! You might as well apply. Is this some of your stuff here? Can I have a look?" Rory took the scrapbook that Allie had been drawing in, and started to flick through it.

"No… don't… ok sure, have a look."

"Wow, this stuff is great! You're really talented. You should definitelyapply." Rory told her sincerely.

"Yeah, well…" Allie blushed and changed the subject. "Quiet tonight, huh?"

Rory glanced around, realizing that no one else had come in since she had been there. "Oh yeah. So where is everyone?"

"Luke's at your place. Your mom wanted him to fix something?"  
"Oh, the fridge. Yeah, at first it was fun to see how lumpy the milk would go and how many different kinds of life the cheese could support, but now the smell makes it difficult to breathe, and I'm a little afraid of the some of the things that are cultivating in there. I think an army is breeding and will try to take over the town or something. So I'm glad that he's fixing it. I hope they're both ok, and haven't been attacked by the mouldy pizza left overs…" mused Rory in all seriousness.

Allie grinned. "Yikes. And Jess is off somewhere… sulking, I think."

Rory stiffened. "Jess? Why is he sulking?"

"He had an argument with Dean this afternoon and now he's all angry about some of the stuff he said."  
Rory sighed. "Another argument? I hope Dean didn't say anything too nasty. I am so sick of those two being so… mean to each other all the time. Why can't they just be civil?"

"I'm sure Jess will get over it. It's just wounded pride. Anyway, you know what males are like… protecting their territory and all."

"Are you calling me territory?"

"No… just saying that there's something that they both want… and they'll go head to head about it until it's established who it… belongs to." Allie tried to put it as delicately as possible.

"I belong to Dean." Rory said shortly, trying to sound sure.

Allie nodded. "Well, Jess probably thought that too… until the kiss… I think that threw him off a little… gave him hope…"

Rory shifted uncomfortably. "You know about that? I just… I don't know what to do… because… did Jess tell you that the next time I saw him after that, he was sticking his tongue down another girl's throat?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, blatantly… a stupid bleached blonde… thing…"

"I don't think Jess has quite grasped the concept of creating subtle jealousy. He just dives straight into hurting people's feelings. He's so clueless sometimes." Allie shook her head.

Rory turned to Allie, surprised at how quickly her feelings had changedtoward the girl. In the short time they had been talking Rory had developed a bit of trust and a certain amount of respect for her. "So… what do you think I should do? I know you're hardly impartial… but I could really use some help here, because either way, someone's going to get hurt."

Allie thought for a minute. "It's a tough call. But to be honest Rory, if you have to seriously think about whether you want to be with your boyfriend or another guy, I'd say you've already made your decision, but you're just scared about making the next move. But you just gotta do what you gotta do. And you know what… if things get real messed up, take comfort in the fact that soon you'll be at college, away from here, and you can just avoid whatever mess you've made."

Rory smiled. "Thanks… that's actually quite a reassuring thought. I'm definitely a fan of avoiding confrontation." She stretched and stood up. "Ok, I should go… but I'll see ya round." She collected her things and made for the door, smiling as she thought about how silly she was to be jealous of Allie when in reality she was totally harmless and had actually managed to put things into perspective a bit for her.

* * *

Sorry this chapter was so non-eventful! Thanks for reading anyway. I've got a couple more chapters on the way at the mo...

A hint of whats coming up: Rory has to makea decision... and a secretis revealedthat has Luke freaking out and feeling helpless.

And thanks for the reviews - any feedback is appreciated!>


	6. A secret revealed

I just read over some of the stuff I've written and realised that I go on for ages without anything actually happening, and just drag it out! Sorry! Does anyone want me to carry on or have you guys had enough-)

The story gets a bit more intense in this chapter, I hope you guys don't mind the direction that I've taken the story in, and if anyone has a problem with any of the issues raised let me know and I'll try to sort something out. Well, let me know if I should write more after this! And thanks for reading!

* * *

"Rory!."

She turned, and found herself looking straight into Jess's dark eyes.

"Oh! Hi..."  
"Rory, I have this English assignment that's due in a couple of days, but I'm kinda lost with it, and I was just wondering... if you have some spare time... could you help me out a little with it?" Jess asked her uncomfortably.

"Umm, sure, of course I will. I'll come by the diner this afternoon and have a look at it for you."

Jess nodded. "Ok, see you then."

Rory watched him walk away, and smiled, thinking about her conversation with Allie and how Jess was clueless, but means well. "In Jess's language, asking for help on an assignment must be a sort of apology in disguise." she decided, amused.

* * *

Rory and Dean were studying together, and Dean had been staring at her for a while before he finally came out with what was on his mind. "I saw you with Jess yesterday afternoon." said Dean bluntly.

Rory looked at him. "Yesterday? Oh, I was just helping him out with an assignment."

"Helping him. That's what it's called now, huh?"

"I _was_ helping him, Dean. That's all." glared Rory, not appreciating Dean's inference.

He rolled his eyes. "I don't want you to hang out with him, he's... bad news."  
"Excuse me?" Rory hoped that she had misheard. "Are you telling me who I can and can't hang out with? You sound like my mom. Except worse than my mom because she wouldn't be so unreasonable!" said Rory, ignoring the fact that Lorelai had actually warned her to stay away from Jess. "Jess is a friend, and I reserve the right to help my friends out whenever they need it."

"But that's not all he wants from you, Rory, and you know that!" snapped Dean, his mouth set in a stern line.

"So what? So what if he does want more? I'm with _you_, or have you forgotten that?"

"Yeah, well sometimes it feels like _you've_ forgotten." muttered Dean.

Rory sighed, irritated. "You don't trust me! Is it always going to be like this? Are you going to try to keep me away from every single guy that comes my way because if they want something more from me then I'm just gonna dive straight into their arms, as I obviously have no self-control or respect for anyone else?"

Dean's blushed. "That's not what I meant, Rory..." he mumbled stubbornly.

"Well you really need to make yourself clearer, because that's definitely what it sounded like."

"I just meant..."

"Could we just drop it?" interrupted Rory, and turned back to her book.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" Luke burst into the apartment, brandishing a small box. 

Allie glanced up lazily from where she was doodling in her scrapbook. "You may not be the brightest cookie in the jar, Luke, but I always thought you could read."

"You know what I mean. Is this yours? I found it in the bin."

"You rifled through the rubbish bin? Gross."

"What?" Luke momentarily lost his train of thought. "No, it was at the top. Is it yours? I got told just before that you bought this... this is Stars Hollow, Allie, you can't buy stuff like this without speculation and gossip."

Allie didn't look at him.

"Is it yours Allie?" he pressed irritably. "Are you pregnant?"

She set down her pencil and sighed. "Well I guess I don't have to bother about finding an easy way to tell you then."

Luke tossed the pregnancy test box onto the table. "So you are?" he waited for her nod of confirmation before letting himself fly off the handle. "So that's why you came out here, is it? Because you're goddam pregnant, and you didn't want your mother to find out? I'm assuming she doesn't know yet. Well I can't do this Allie, I can't have a pregnant teenager on my hands!"

"What?" Allie stood up, glaring at her furious uncle. "I'm not _on your hands_, Luke. I'm just visiting, here to see my brother, and then I'll be out of your hair."

"What am I supposed to tell your mother?"

"Nothing! There's nothing to say to her."

"You come out here, with... with this," he gestured at Allie's flat stomach. "And you think she doesn't need to know? I don't want to be involved in this!"

"Well stop getting yourself involved then!" shouted Allie heatedly.

"Just by you being here, in my care, I am involved!" Luke shouted back. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

"I'm not asking you to do anything! I don't want your help! This isn't your problem."

"You're pregnant. You're my niece. You're staying with me. I think you've made it my problem."  
"Well, don't bother getting too worked up about it," retorted Allie frostily "because I'm getting rid of it anyway."

"What!" roared Luke, getting even more fired up.

"Oh, I think you heard me."

"Getting _rid_ of it? I don't think so. If you think you're old enough and responsible enough to be shacking up with boys then you are old enough and responsible enough to be accountable for your actions and face the consequences!"

Just then Jess came in. "Guys, I can hear you yelling all the way downstairs. You might want to keep it down a bit, the domestics could be bad for business."

He was ignored.

Allie's eyes flashed indignantly. "I don't need your lectures, my mind's made up. I don't want this baby."

"It's a human life! It is not your place to decide whether it lives or dies, Allie! You can't go around playing god just because you're stupid enough to get yourself into a messy situation!" ranted Luke, gesturing wildly.

Jess suddenly realised what they were fighting about, and he narrowed his eyes. "Don't talk to her like that."

"I suppose you already knew." Luke accused him. "Cooked up a big plan to get your knocked up sister out here so that she get rid of her baby quietly,minimum fuss. Is that how it was meant to go?" Luke knew he was being unfair, but he had worked himself up so much that he found it difficult to calm down.

Jess took a step towards his uncle, his voice dangerously quiet. "_Don't_ say that when you have _no_ idea."

"Shut up Jess." Allie had gone pale.

Jess shook his head. "No, Allie! I'm sick of people thinking that they can just judge like this, when they have no idea! I don't think he'd be saying those things if he knew the truth."

"Jess!" hissed Allie sharply and desperately. "Leave it."

Luke's brow furrowed. "What truth?" He'd calmed down a bit at Jess's cryptic words.

Allie stormed to the door, slamming it hard on her way out.

"So tell me Luke, who do you think Allie is pregnant to?" Jess asked casually.

Luke scowled. "What? God, I don't know. Some stupid boyfriend of hers or something?"

Jess's expression was of mock surprise. "Wow! You're nearly right! Stupid boyfriend indeed, except not Allie's stupid boyfriend, no. Mom's stupid boyfriend."

Luke swallowed, not quite sure what Jess was telling him. "What?"  
Jess's voice shook as he tried to control his anger. "That's right. Mom's stupid, disgusting pig of a boyfriend liked to come around to our place alot, and he liked a bit of a drink aswell. In fact, he was drunk most of the time, and he'd get a bit violent and knock us all around a bit, and after a while he decided that he liked the look of Allie, and took great pleasure from... from forcing her to..." Jess's voice rose and he banged his fist on the table, squeezing his eyes shut and pursing his lips at the memory. When he reopened them, he was breathing hard but his voice was controlled. "It only happened a couple of times, but as you can see, his damage is done."

Luke's stomach had turned to ice and his mouth went dry as he processed what he had just heard.

"So don't you ever-" warned Jess quietly "-pass your _judgement_ until you know what it is you're judging."


	7. Questions and answers

Jess had been tempted to go and find his sister, but thought that Luke would have questions, and he should probably answer them instead of leaving it to Allie, who hadn't wanted Luke to know in the first place. He leaned against the side of the table, waiting patiently for Luke to speak.

"When did this happen?" Luke asked quietly.

Jess shrugged. "Mom started going out with this guy about three months before I came to stay here. He was ok for the first couple of weeks, but then... Allie's about two months along, I think."

"And does Liz know?" Luke's voice was hollow.

"She knows that he's a violent guy. As I said, he liked to knock us all about a bit. But she doesn't know about the other stuff."

"I have to call her."

"And Allie doesn't want her to know. Not yet. So please don't call her or anything, at least not until you've talked to Allie. She'll be mad enough that I told you without mom finding out as well." cautioned Jess.

"Why didn't she want me to know?"

"Look, I shouldn't have told you in the first place, but I just get so sick of people thinking that they can see right through us, thinking we're no good and all. Allie didn't come out here with the intention of letting you in on this, she doesn't like putting her baggage onto other people. She just came here to get away." Jess told him.

Luke couldn't quite get his head around the whole thing. "And is that why Liz sent you out here? Because of this guy? Why didn't she send Allie as well?"

"Talk about twenty questions." muttered Jess, and then sighed. "I got sent to you because... well Allie and I had already been in a bit of trouble, cutting school and stuff... we tried to stay away from home as much as possible, it was ok when he wasn't there. A couple of times he randomly came to our place and Allie was the only one home, and that's when it would happen. She never told me the first time, but it happened again and he'd smacked her around a bit and she had some nasty bruises, so I ended up finding out. Basically, the next time I saw him, I told him never to touch my sister again, and to make sure he got the message, I... I broke his nose and both his hands..."

"His hands? How the hell did you manage that?" interjected Luke, morbidly proud of his nephew.

"That's really not the issue here." Jess skirted the question. "After that, he told mom that he'd have me up for assault, and she didn't want me to have a criminal record or whatever and she said that she was scared of the _direction_ I was going in, so she sent me out here. I talked to Allie as much as I could, and she reckons that she never had any trouble from him after that- his hands were still pretty messed up- I don't know if it's true, but... well, she's here now."

"So has she gone to the police? Does anyone else know?"

Jess grimaced. "No. Not yet."

"She has to report it!" Luke was shocked. "She can't let him just get away with it."

"She doesn't want to. At least not yet, so just leave it ok? She'll sort it when she's ready." said Jess firmly. "So do you have any more questions? Coz if you don't then I'm gonna go find Allie."

Luke shook his head dumbly. "Go."  
Jess paused at the door. "Oh, and don't make a big deal of this, ok? Allie wouldn't want you to."

After he had left, Luke paced about the room, still trying to comprehend was had happened.

"Oh god, the things I said to her!" he groaned, slapping his forehead. He had been slightly numb with shock during the conversation with Jess, but now feeling was returning in the form of anger. His head burned with it, and his muscles tensed. All of a sudden, he found himself unreasonably furious with Liz for bringing that man into her life and the lives of her children; he was filled with wrath just thinking about the drunken fool who had caused all this; he was irate at Allie and Jess for having kept this from him, and most of all, he was completely livid at himself just for not doing anything sooner, and not being able to do anything now. In his state of rage, he threw a few things across the room, smashed a few cups and plates, and violently punched the wall until his knuckles split. With tiny rivulets of blood snaking between his clenched fingers, he rested his head against the wall he had just assaulted, breathing hard, his anger melting away just at quickly as it had bubbled over.

* * *

It was about midnight, and Lorelai wandered into the kitchen in search of coffee. She was in pyjama bottoms and a singlet, and had been contemplating going to bed, but decided that she could do with one more cup of coffee before hitting the sack. Rory had already been asleep for a couple of hours, so Lorelai padded quietly across the lino to the fridge (it was now working fine and all mysterious life forms had been removed from it and it only contained regular fridge stuff.) and tried to remember how old the milk was. A sudden tap at the window totally caught her by surprise, and she leapt back, her hand flying to her mouth to stifle a shriek. She stared in shock at the face peering in the window, and it wasn't until she heard the second insistent tapping that she realised it was only Luke, and she unfroze, and went to let him in.

"For god's sake!" she hissed, swiping at his chest. "Sneak up on me in the middle of the night! Way to give me a heart attack! And I'm so young, too..."

"I need to talk to you." he muttered.

She ushered him inside, closing the door behind him. "Now?" the serious look on his face answered her question. "Ok, but we have to go into the lounge, I don't want to wake Rory."  
Luke nodded and followed her into the next room. "I brought coffee."

Lorelai gazed at him for a moment before eagerly grabbing the cup. "Sometimes I think that you're an angel sent from god especially for me to read my mind and cater for my every whim and fancy. Did you bring pizza as well?" she tried, hopefully.

"No." came the flat reply.

"Hmmph. Well you need to read over your contract, mister. You can't just do this whim and fancy thing by halves, you know. It can leave a person feeling very cheated. But I'm still grateful for the coffee."

They sat down next to each other on the couch, and Lorelai put her feet up and sat sideways so she could face Luke. He fidgeted and sighed a few times. "Whenever you're ready." encouraged Lorelai, sipping at her coffee, enjoying the caffeine fix seeping through her bloodstream.

Luke took a deep breath. "I don't know what to do, Lorelai. I just... I don't..."

The urgency in his tone caught her by surprise, and a cold spiral of dread snaked around her stomach.

"What's wrong?"

He gazed over at her, his eyes wide. "It's Allie." He started to tell her what had happened that day, how he had found the pregnancy test box, and confronted Allie and how they had argued. When he got to the part where Jess had come in and Allie had stormed out, he got up and started pacing back and forth in agitation.

Luke was finding it difficult to repeat everything that he'd been told, and kept stopping and starting and stammering, but Lorelai kept quiet, and just let him tell it at his own pace, careful not to upset him anymore than he already was.

"He did that to her, and now she's pregnant, and I... I don't know how to deal with this" he said desperately, still pacing. Lorelai set down her cup. "It's ok, Luke."

"Ok?" he drew a hand over his face agitatedly. "It's definitely not ok."

Lorelai jumped up and grabbed his shoulders. "Just stop for a second, ok? Just stop."

He swallowed hard, but stood still. He looked so lost that Lorelai's heart went out to him, and she pulled him to her. He hugged her tightly, his eyes shut and his brow furrowed, and she just held him, rubbing his back gently and soothing him.

She sat him down on the couch, and took his hands in hers, stroking them. She stopped for a second. "What happened to your hand?" She ran a finger over his knuckles tentatively. "Have you been playing knucklebones again? I told you, you take that game way too seriously. Look what happens."

"I punched a wall... a few times." he told her resignedly. He had lost all his anger and was now just feeling tired and helpless.

"So how is Allie now?" Lorelai asked quietly.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know,I haven't seen her since she walked out, but I think Jess went to find her."

"God, I'll kill Liz..." he carried on, frowning. "Bringing a man like that into her house and... and letting all that happen."

"I am sure that Liz didn't mean for any of this to happen, Luke. Don't blame her."

"Well she probably could have done something to stop it... or _something_, but now, he's hurt them all, hurt Allie, and I just want to be able to take it all back, I want to take it all from her and fix it so she doesn't hurt anymore and she can just..."  
"I know." soothed Lorelai. "I know you want to, but it's done, and all you can do is be there for her now."

"And it's not just that," Luke shook his head. "It's Jess as well, what he's been through. I've been so hard on him. No wonder he couldn't settle when he first got here, and he was calling home all the time and I didn't even pick up that something might be wrong... and that's why he wanted her to come out here so bad... so that he could get her away. And I didn't even think..."

"You weren't to know. No one was. She's here now, and that's all that matters."

He turned to her suddenly. "How do you do it, Lorelai?"

"Do what?"

"Be a parent. Like a proper parent. How do you ever let her out of your sight, knowing what could happen? I've only had Jess for a few weeks, and it's hard enough, how can you look after someone for sixteen years, and know that's only the beginning?"

Lorelai smiled. "I don't know. It's just ingrained. I couldn't imagine life without Rory, and as scared as I am to let her go, it's amazing to watch her grow and make it on her own."

They sat in silence for a few moments until Luke spoke.

"So what now? What do I do?"

"What does Allie want to do?"

"She doesn't want to keep it."  
"She's sure?"  
"Her mind seemed pretty made up about it." sighed Luke.

"Well then, you help her through that, and then..." Lorelai squeezed his hand. "And then you take it from there."

Luke seemed content with that answer, and he put his arm around Lorelai's shoulders, and kissed her hair.

"Thank you."

"I'd do anything for you Luke, you know that - you're my coffee guy."


	8. Decisions

I'm writing as fast as I can! Here's the next part, hope you like it...

* * *

The next morning, Luke was trying to find an appropriate moment to apologise to Allie, but there just didn't seem to be one. In the end he decided just to go for it, regardless of the fact that she was trying to carry plates out to people.

"Allie. Look, I'm really-"  
"It's fine. Don't need to say anything." she cut him off, and set down the plates before heading back to the kitchen.

He went after her. "Please, I'm sorry... I didn't mean-"

She cut him off again without pausing in her stride. "I told you, it's fine. Seriously."

Luke wasn't sure that it was fine, but she didn't seem to want to talk about it, so he caught her wrist and swung her into his chest, hugging her fiercely. She resisted at first, surprised, but then he felt her relax and hug him back.

"I'll help you with anything that you need. Anything. And I promise that I won't tell your mom anything."

She looked up at him. "Thank you." she sniffed.

He let her go just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, and went out the back.

"I feel neglected. How come I never get hugs like that from Unkey Luke." pouted Jess exagerratedly from the bar.

Allie laughed. "Maybe if you'd behave yourself for more than five minutes, he'd be able to stop yelling at you long enough to give you one."

"He's quite a master at communicating his feelings, don't you think?" observedJess, but before he could go on, the diner door jingled as Lorelai and Rory came in, bantering animatedly about something.

"Ooh. Look who's here!" Allie grinned at Jess, then batted her eyelashes and wrung her hands together dramatically. "So have you confessed your undying love for her yet?"

"Shut up." hissed Jess throwing the teatowel he was holding at his sister. "I don't... I don't even like her that much. Anyway, I told you, she's got a boyfriend."

"Please. Change the record."

Jess glared at her. "Well she has. She could just break up with him... but she hasn't, so I don't know..."

"Oh you poor tormented soul." Allie remarked flatly. "Get over it and make a move already."

"Hi Jess." Rory had come up to the bar.

"Ohh... does that poor girl have to take matters into her own hands every single time?" scolded Allie, supressing a smile at the dirty look from her brother, and then left, as Jess, cheeks burning, turned to Rory, hoping she hadn't heard Allie's last comment.

"Hi."

"So... did you get the assignment in?" asked Rory for lack of anything else to say.

"Yeah. Uh... thanks for the help. And actually..." he was feeling brave, "... I have to critique this short story, and I thought maybe you'd have a few opinions on it."

Rory nodded with a small smile. "I might do. Unless this is a sneaky way of trying to get me to do all your assignments so you don't have to do anything?"

Jess put on his best shocked face. "I would never do that." he told her indignantly. "Anyway, I've already critiqued some of it. You probably won't be able to come up with as many points as I have."

"We'll see about that." Rory smiled at the challenge.

Meanwhile, Lorelai was talking to Luke. "So have you sorted out this baby dilemma thing yet?"

He sighed. "No, she hasn't really been over-eager to discuss it."

"Well if she wants to have a termination, she'll have to do it soon. She can't keep putting it off." Lorelai ran a hand through her hair. "Ok. I'll make her a doctor's appointment, and I'll take her there."

"No, I should take her... she's my..."

Lorelai interrupted. "I think it would be better if I took her. I mean... I'm sure you'd be very sympathetic and sensitive, but you're... you. And you're also a guy. I'll take her."

Luke looked semi-offended. "I am sensitive." he grumbled. "You don't even know her that well."

"And you two are bosom buddies? I suppose you could recite her deepest darkest fears and secrets, and write down a list of her crushes and dreams, hmm? And what about her hobbies? Do you even know any of them?" Lorelai asked accusingly.

"Ok, ok! I get the point. You take her."

Luke called Allie over. "Allie, we want to help out, and... and there's a doctor in the next town that you can go to if you want to have a... a termination."

"If you're sure that's want you want." added Lorelai pointedly. She caught the brief hesitation in Allie's eyes.

"I'm sure. That's what I want."

"Ok. Well, I'll make an appointment for you, and I'll drive you over." Lorelai told her.

Allie shook her head. "Oh, no, no it's fine. I can sort this myself, you don't need to do anything for me. I... I don't want you to go out of your way or anything..."

Lorelai stopped her. "Well, actually... as it happens, I have to make a trip to the town anyway, so I can take you because I'll already be going that way."

Allie raised her eyebrows. "Oh? What for?"

"Umm... I need to..." Lorelai racked her brain. "I need to... pick up some stuff."

"Really." said Allie skeptically. "What kind of stuff would that be?"

"Uhh... stuff for... the inn. Goods for the inn... inn goods." faltered Lorelai.

"Inn goods? What kind of inn goods?" pressed Allie.

"What kind..." Lorelai glanced around for inspiration. "Uhh... inn goods in the form of... of mints!" she decided triumphantly. "Mints. We're all out. You know the ones that you put on the pillows? We have none left, and without them we're in a bit of a quandry coz you can't have guests staying at an inn without pillow mints now can you? Think of what people would say! We could be shut down! So it's very important that I go and get more pillow mints for the inn."

"Oh!" Allie tried to look concerned. "That is important.But why don't you just get some here? In Stars Hollow? Surely you don't need to go out of town for pillow mints if they're that important?"  
Lorelai rubbed a finger over her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Right... but you see, we only use the best quality mints... they're... imported, and you can't get them in Stars Hollow, so that's why I have get them from out of town." She glanced at Allie to see if the explanation would hold.

Luke rolled his eyes and shook his head, turning to make more coffee.

Allie decided that she'd cut Lorelai some slack and stop questioning her, and simply accept her made-up story, it was a good effort. She nodded solemnly. "Yes, I understand the urgency. Ok, let me know when you're going."

* * *

The next morning Lorelai came by Luke's as usual.

"I got an appointment for her with the doctortoday." she told Luke as he poured her coffee.

He nodded tensely.

"It'll be ok, you know."  
He looked at Lorelai. "I know. Yeah. I'm still a bit worried though, what if something goes wrong, or..."

"It'll be ok." Lorelai assured him, putting her hand on his.

Just then, Luke caught sight of his niece. "Allie! Lorelai's going to take you across today."

"Today?" she was faintly surprised. "Uh, ok, I'll just get ready." she headed up to the appartment.

When Allie came back down,Luke pattedher shoulder hesitantly as she was leaving. "Uh... see ya later."

She gave him a nervous smile, and followed Lorelai to her car.

* * *

Things had been tense between Rory and Dean for a couple of days now, and it didn't look as though the tension was lessening.

Rory glanced at her watch. "Look, I have to go."

"Now? Where? I thought you didn't need to do any study today."

Rory shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, I don't. But someone else does, and I promised that I would help them."

Dean suddenly understood. "Oh. And who would this someone be, then?"

"I said that I'd help him with some work. And I told you that I will always help my freiends out." For a moment, Rory wondered why she hadn't lied about where she was going. There were a million things that she could've said that would have caused a lot less trouble than this. Her wondering was cut short by Dean's snappy reply.

"And I thought I told you that I don't like you hanging out with him."

"I thought this was sorted." said Rory wearily.

"No, no it's not sorted." Dean's voice was rising. "I hate thinking of you around that guy! I don't trust him!"

"You don't trust me, more like it!" Rory was starting to get mad.

Dean eyes flashed angrily. "Not when you're around him, I don't."

"I can't keep having this same fight with you! I'm sick of it!"

Dean frowned. "Well you don't seem like you're trying very hard to fix the problem."

"Well, what then? How do I fix this? Do you want me to completely avoid him? Shut him out of my life? Because this town is way too small to do that, Dean. So tell me what it is you want me to do?" cried Rory, exasperated, throwing her hands in the air.

"What _I_ want you to do? I don't think that this relationship is really based on what I want, is it? I think that it's about what you want, and in the end that's what you'll do." Dean yelled back, and then sighed, and looked her hard in the eyes. "So it's up to you, Rory. You tell me. Whatis it that youwant?"


	9. Illusions & realisations

Jess stared into the water, swinging his legs, a million thoughts running through his head. He tried to latch on to one but couldn't concentrate.

Rory saw him, and stopped not far away, watching him sitting there on the dock. She hesitated, wondering if she should just leave him be. She decided against it.

"Hi. Luke said you might be here." she went over and sat next to him.

"Hay."

"Is everything allright? You look... pensive." Rory nodded, satisfied with her word choice.

Jess kept his eyes fixed on the water. "Your mom's taken my sister to the doctor."

"I know. I was looking for her before, but then I remembered that she said she'd probably be gone most of the day." Rory wasn't sure what else to say, so she waited for Jess to speak. He didn't say anything for a long while, and then he sighed. "I'm worried."  
Rory stirred from her thoughts. "Worried? About what?"

"About my sister. I'm worried about Allie." muttered Jess.  
"Don't be, I'm sure everything will be fine." Rory tried to reassure him.

Jess shifted his gaze upwards. "It's easy enough to say that, but you never know."

"She'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

"The worst? Well... she could... die!"

Rory stared at him incredulously. "_Die! _Jess, this isn't 1850, the doctors know what they're doing now. She's not gonna _die_."

"Well... maybe not today, but one day she probably will." snapped Jess irrationally. "Is it a crime to be worried about that?" He frowned and stuck his lower lip out slightly just like a sulking kid. Rory tried to suppress a smile - he was cute when he was upset and unreasonable.

"Well it's not going to be today, so there's no point in thinking about that kind of stuff now." she told him softly. "Anyway, Allie'll be back soon and you'll be able to see for yourself that she's fine, and she'll be able to tell you what an idiot you are for being so unnecessarily worried about her."

"I know. I just wish that I could do more to help. I feel like I haven't done anything for her."

Rory patted his shoulder. "You've done heaps for her! You got her out here, didn't you? You're always there for her and you look out for her... Allie's very lucky to have you as a brother. And I think she knows that."

Jess was slightly embarrassed by Rory's sincere words, and studied his fingernails intensely for a while.

"What are you doing out here anyway?" he questioned gruffly. "You manage to escape from your possessive boyfriend?"

"That's one way to put it." Rory now found her own hands very interesting.

Jess turned to her for the first time since she sat down. "And what's that supposed to mean?" he asked slowly.

Rory shifted uncomfortably. "It means that... well, Dean and I broke up. This morning." she glanced at him quickly to gage his reaction.

He nodded. "Oh. Well... I'm sorry to hear that."

Rory couldn't read his tone. "What?"

"I said I'm sorry to hear that." repeated Jess.

"No snide comment? No gloating remark?" asked Rory, put out.

Jess's forehead crinkled. "No. Your boyfriend of two years just broke up with you, so I'm offering my condolensces."

"I broke up with _him_." Rory corrected firmly, not sure why it mattered right now. "And why are you sorry? You didn't like him anyway!"

"Yeah, but apparently _you_ did. So I'm just saying, I hope that you're ok." Jess's expression was blank, and Rory was completely disconcerted by his words.

She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times before speaking. "Well, I thought I was, but it turns out that I was very wrong! Excuse me, I have to go." she got up in a rush, and left without a backward glance. It wasn't like she had expectedhim to do avictory danceor propose or anything, but shehad expected a bit more thanempty sympathy.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Lorelai bowled into the diner and plonked herself into a seat at the bar.

"Coffee. Now."

Luke was startled at her sudden appearance. "You're back already? Where's Allie?"

"Outside talking to Jess. Where's coffee?" Lorelai motioned at an empty mug.

Luke filled the mug, glancing at her cautiously. "Is everything ok?"

Lorelai raised her eyebrows in contemplation. "Hmm. No. Everything is not ok. Because of your niece, I had to buy a 10kg bulk bag of imported mints. And as if that wasn't bad enough, she made me talk to the shopkeeper about setting up an automatic delivery system so that we never need to worry about running out of pillow mints again. I have a standing order for 10kgs of mints a month, with a special bonus deal of receiving double whatI buy for the first 3 months."

Luke looked amused. "Well it serves you right for making up such a stupid story in the first place."

"Do you know how many mints that is?" Lorelai didn't think Luke fully understood the extent of the situation. "Thousands and millions of mints! If we scooped out the earth and made it all hollow and then poured the mints into it, we could fill the entire thing, and then still have enough left over to fill up every pillow in the world, and _still_ have enough to put a jar of complimentary mints on the inn reception counter so when people pay their bill we can say to them 'thank you, and please, won't you take a mint? They're complimentary."

Luke blinked at her. "Yes. That sounds like a very accurate description of the actual number of mints you have."

Lorelai sighed. "Ok, so maybe the jarbit was a bit of an exagerration, but I'm just still surprised by how persuasive Allie can be - she'd be a very good salesperson, she should look into that as a career. - one minute I was saying, 'oh no, I don't need to get them today' and the next thing I knew, my car is full of mints. Man, I should've told her that I needed to buy shoes instead..." realised Lorelai, shaking her head. "I could've had so many new shoes. But no. So what am I supposed to do with all the mints?"

"Maybe you could put two mints on a pillow instead of just one." suggested Luke. "Anyway, shut up about the mints and tell me how Allie's doing? Did the termination go ok?"

Lorelai sucked in a breath. "Mmm... not really..."

Lukeclutched the edge of the bar, wide-eyed. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Lorelai said unhelpfully.

"Lorelai!"

"Well it didn't! The termination didn't happen... because she's decided to have the baby!" Lorelai announced, clapping her hands excitedly. "Cool, huh!"

Luke narrowed his eyes. "What the hell did you say to her?"

"I didn't say anything!" Lorelai protested. "Well... not really. We just had a chat... I wanted to make sure she was fully aware of all her options, because I don't think she was... and then I took her to the doctor and we all chatted some more, and then Allie decided that she'd changed her mind and that she wanted to have the baby." she explained matter-of-factly.

"Lorelai Gilmore. Advocate of teenage pregnancy." Luke rolled his eyes.

"It's not like that! Anyway, I thought you didn't want her to have the termination."

"I didn't... but, I think this pregnancy will be really hard for her."

"Well, I think that it would've been a lot harder the other way, Luke." Lorelai said seriously, and then continued, brightening. "And it'll be ok because the doctor gave her a list of all these great support services that she can call, and he set her up an appointment with a really good counsellor, and also, he convinced her to call her mom, so she did, while we were there," Lorelai told Luke, getting really into the story.

"_And_ it turns out that Liz has actually been like, really depressed for a while now, and that's how she gets into these destructive relationships coz she'sgot really low self-esteem, and Allie and Jess knew that something was up, but Liz refused to discuss it, but now, she's finally admitted to herself that she needs to get some help, so she's kicked this guy out of her life coz she sick of how he treats her, obviously when Allie told her what had happened she was still really shocked and angry and upset, but they talked it through, and Liz was so supportive, and she wants to do everything she can and be really involved in Allie's pregnancy and she's gonna do up a room for the baby... and ohh, they ended on really good terms, it was just... nice for Allie to finally tell her mom." Lorelai smiled just thinking about it, pleased with the outcomes of the day.

Luke, however, wasn't so pleased. "She's not going back to New York."

"What's that now?" Lorelai's smile faded.

"She can't go back there."  
"Of course she can, Luke! It's her home."

"No. Look what happened to her while she was at home. She's not in a safe environment, she can't live in a place like that." Luke crossed his arms firmly.

"She'll be safe. Liz is sorting herself out, and she's totally supportive about the whole thing." argued Lorelai.

Luke frowned. "If Liz hadn't been so self-absorbed, none of this would've happened in the first place."  
Lorelai's expression was hard. "She's sick, Luke, this wasn't her fault. And at the end of the day, Liz is still Allie's mother."  
"Yeah,but a very good one though."

"Well Allie seems to like her." countered Lorelai. "And anyway, Allie wants to go home. She wants to go back to her life; to her friends; to her mom. So it doesn't matter what you think, because it's not up to you."

"It's a bad idea." snapped Luke.

Lorelai stared at him for a minute. "What did you have in mind? You think she could just stay here?"

He shrugged. "Of course. She'd stay right here. I'd be her guardian, help her out with everything that she needs, and Jess is here too, so we'd look after her. It makes sense."

"It doesn't make any sense." Lorelai told him straight up. "For a start she doesn't want to stay here. She doesn't need a guardian, she has a mother and a home, and she doesn't need to be looked after. It wouldn't work - you live in a one room appartment. You think that you, Jess, Allie and a newborn would be happy living on top of each other? She's trying to put her life back to normal, and as much asshe really appreciates everything that you've done for her and her time here,Stars Hollowis not herkind of normality."

Luke was silent as he understood what Lorelai was telling him. It suddenly seemed totally unreasonable to have expected Allie to stay, and he rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. "Ok. I get it. I just don't want her to go."

Lorelai smiled kindly at him. "Neither do I, I like her. But look on the bright side - at least you get to keep Jess!

Luke groaned. "He's a completely different story."

* * *

That's the end of this chapter - sorry about the whole pillow mint thing - I just got a bit carried away! 


	10. Jess's decision

Meanwhile...

When Lorelai and Allie had arrived back, Jess saw Lorelai's car and had gone out to meet them. While Lorelai was in the diner talking to Luke, Jess and Allie had gone to the dock.

"You're telling me that you're gonna have this freakin baby? That's insane!"

"And this is your lovely uncle Jess." Allie told her stomach fondly.

Jess shot her a withering look. "But Allie, it's... it's _his_."

She exhaled. "Yeah, but only half. Half of it is _mine_, and I think it deserves a chance."

Jess wasn't convinced. "But it'll be an everyday reminder that... that-"

"That something amazing can come out of a horrible situation." finished Allie. "What's done is done, Jess, and I'm dealing with it and moving on. I won't let it rule my life."

"So you're having the baby." he double-checked.

"Yes. I want to."

"You've changed your tune."

"Mm. Lorelai put a different perspective on it for me. I'm glad she did."

"You'd better give up smoking."

"Already have."  
"So you _are_ serious. Hm." Jess thought for a moment. "So, I'm gonna be an uncle then? I guess that's kinda cool."

Allie wrinkled her nose. "I thought you didn't like kids."

"I don't, usually. But, this one will be related to _me_, so there's a very high chance that it'll be really, really cool, and devastatingly handsome." Jess arched an eyebrow and thrust his chin in the air with a smirk.

"You forgot incredibly conceited." added Allie, rolling her eyes.

Jess looked at Allie suddenly. "Allie... can I play heavy metal angsty music to it in your stomach and see if it spends its life being angry at the world?"

"No."

"Can I play Chinese tapes to it and see if it comes out speaking Chinese?"

"No."

"Can you drink an abnormal amount of coffee and see if it comes out speaking as fast as Lorelai?"

"No."

"Ooh..." Jess brightened, and persisted. "Hay, can I buy it a leather jacket and teach it to ride a motorcycle?"  
"No."

"Can I dress it in plaid and backwards caps and call it baby Luke?"

"Definitely not."

"Can I name it?"

"No."

"Can you name it after me?"

"Maybe... if it's a girl."

Jess gave his sister a small shove. "Shut up. Oh... hay, speaking of girls, Rory broke up with Dean today."  
"Really!" Allie was surprised. "That's great! Well, great for you, not so great for Dean, and probably not the greatest moment of Rory's life... so overall not that great, but it kinda is if you're taking a biased point of view, although that depends..." Allie got caught in her own thoughts.

"Allie! Focus." Jess snapped his fingers in her face.

"Sorry. Ok, so great for you! And then what happened?"

"Well, she told me that she broke up with him..." Jess paused.

"And...?" encouraged Allie.

"And then, I think I said the wrong thing." Jess bit his lip and glanced at his sister sheepishly.

Allie's face darkened anxiously. "Oh god. What did you say?"

Jess told her what had happened, and made it a very quick version because Allie started groaning and clutching her head in dismay.

"Oh _Jess_! You stupid, clueless... male!"

"What!" Jess was offended. "I was _trying_ to be sensitive! I thought girls were meant to like that!"

"Only if it's done right. If a girl breaks up with her boyfriend for some other... idiot," Allie stared at Jess pointedly. "She doesn't want the idiot saying he feels sorry for her and comforting her - that's what she has girlfriends and comfort food for - the idiot is meant to sweep her off her feet; put himself out there for her; assure her that she's done the right thing by telling her how he feels about her... or something to that extent."

Jess blinked several times in quick succession. "You've lost me."

Allie took a deep breath and tried to explain. "She didn't break up with Dean for _fun_, she broke up with him for you - that's what I think, anyway - and then all you say to her is a patronising 'sorry about that.' - which by the way is completely out of character for you since you hardly ever apologise and you didn't even _like_ her boyfriend- "

"Rory pointed that out." remembered Jess, before looking back at his sister trying to concentrate on what she was saying.

"She's totally put herself on the line, she's practically asking you out! She doesn't want to hear that you're sorry, she just wants you to tell her that you like her! She wants to know that you're happy about the break up, or just some sort of reassurance that she didn't split with her long term boyfriend for nothing!"

Jess screwed his face up. "So you're saying that I should have...?"

Allie sighed dramatically. "Honestly, Jess! Would you try to keep up? You're slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter!"

"Huh?"

"Jess." Allie said calmly and firmly. "Tell her that you like her or tell her that she's wasting her time -whatever -but for god's sake, tellthat poor girlsomething and stop toying with her emotions like a yo-yo."

"What do you know anyway?" muttered Jess sulkily. "You're not... Dr Phil."

"You don't have to be atalk show hostto see what's going on here. You just have to not be blind. And deaf. And stupid." retorted Allie dryly.

"I don't know how I'm expected to know all this." complained Jess, folding his arms. "Nobody gave me a manual or anything."

Allie shrugged wearily. "Just try to learn from your mistakes, Jess."

"Women are so complicated."

"Men are so thick."

Jess shot her a withering glance. "We're just not psychics, that's all. Anyway, it's lucky that you're here to interpret all these crazy situations for me coz I don't have a clue."

"Well, don't get used to it. You'll have to figure them out on your own soon!" Allie told him brightly.

"Why?"

"I've gotta go back home. You knew I was just visiting."

"Yeah... but I thought that once you'd spent some time here you'd see it wasn't such a bad place and then... I don't know." Jess said, his eyes downcast.

"It isa nice place, but I miss New York."

"When are you going?"

Allie shrugged. "Couple of days, maybe. Soon."

"Why don't you at least stay a bit longer?" asked Jess, but Allie shook her head.

"Nah. You've got school and stuff, and I'm gonna go back and try and sort things out with mom and make sure she's doing ok. Cheer up, Jessie!" she added with a grin. "I promise that I'll let you come and visit."

He gave a short laugh, and put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, I'll shout you a coffee."

* * *

Lorelai had told Rory to meet her at Luke's and she'd take her home from there since Lorelai had the car. Rory had quickly scanned the diner for Jess before going in, and deeming it safe, she was on her way up to the bar where her mother was talking to Luke. She didn't notice Jess and Allie arriving just behind her.

Allie gave Jess a sharp prod in the side. "Go and apologise properly." she hissed.

Jess glared at Allie. "Don't tell me what to do!" he hissed back, and then he called out. "Hay, Rory..."

Rory turned, startled that she'd gone to all the trouble to check the diner for him, and then he'd suddenly appeared behind her.

"I just wanted to-"

Jess was cut off by another sharp prod from Allie. "Yeah, do it in public - that won't make her feel worse. And it really adds to the sincerity." muttered Allie sarcastically.

Jess glared at her again, but took notice of what she said. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" he gestured to the stairs, and started over to them. Rory's first thought was to say no, and leave, but curiosity and the plain fact that she liked Jess got the better of her, so she followed him up to the appartment.

He perched on the arm of the couch, and told her to sit down, but she insisted that standing was fine. She wanted to be able to make an easy get-away if she needed to.

Jess took a deep breath. "Look, I wanted to say that I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to... offend you, I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. Coz I'm not sorry that you and Dean broke up, I just meant that break-ups are never fun, and that what I was sorry about."

Rory looked at him for a moment. "That's ok." she said grudgingly. She knew a Jess-apology was rare, so she'd take what she could get, although she kicked herself for accepting it so easily.

They avoided eye contact awkwardly for a few moments, then Jess spoke again.

"Hay, so you know Allie's going back to New York soon?"

"Really? Oh. Well I guess she wasn't gonna stay forever..." said Rory reflectively.

Jess sighed. "I think I'm really gonna miss her, you know? I mean, she's my sister and we're pretty close..."

"Yeah." agreed Rory.

"And now she's having this kid, and I'm gonna be an uncle, and it'd be cool to be involved in it all..." continued Jess casually, glancing up at Rory every few moments. "When I think about it, I really don't want her to go, but she has to... but I do want to bearound for her..."

Rory suddenly went cold as she realised what he was hinting at. She knew what she should say next - she didn't want to - but Jess needed her to say it, almostlike if she said it then she would be giving him permission.

She held off as long as she could, but then took a breath.

"So... maybe... you should go back to New York with her." Rory's voice was tight.

Jess looked at her warily. "Yeah. That's what I thought."

At his words, Rory's heart dropped suddenly and she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. She didn't realise how much she liked him until she thought about him not being around.


	11. The end

Does anyone even remember this story? It's been soo long since I've written anything! Sorry about that. But here is the final chapter, hope that it's not too terrible! Thanks for reading...

* * *

As the weight of Jess's words hit her, Rory swallowed hard, and couldn't bring herself to look Jess in the eye. "Oh… Well, of course that would make sense… you going home, and being around your family and I'm sure Allie would appreciate it… and your mom would be happy to see you… and you could go back to your old school…" Rory was saying all of this more for her benefit than Jess's, trying to remind herself of all the reasons that justified Jess leaving, and why it was a good idea for him. But there was one thought that kept interrupting all of her reasoning… what about her?

Jess looked at her awkwardly. "Well... that's all the stuff I said to Allie. I thought that it would probably be the best thing to do."

"Yes." agreed Rory absentmindedly. "Yes. You leaving here. You leaving me here."

"And so I told Allie I'd go back with her when she leaves." continued Jess. "And she… well, it turns out that she doesn't think I should." He looked for some reaction from Rory, but she seemed to still be caught up in her own thoughts, so he carried on.

"She thought that it was a ridiculous idea, and told me not to be so stupid, that she wouldn't want me cramping her style, and that it would make more sense for me to stay here at least until I finish school, and I have a job here, and she said that she's going to be all hormones and moody anyway, and that I'd just get in her way and so I should stay away until the baby's born. I think that she was just trying to be nice about it."

Eyes glistening with unshed tears, Rory was half listening to what Jess was saying, but not really understanding what he was telling her.

Jess took a deep breath. "Anyway, she punched me in the arm and told me that I'd be an idiot if I didn't stay here. And so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to stay in Stars Hollow."

Rory took a moment to process this information. "What…?"

"I'm staying here, you're not getting rid of me that easy!"

Rory frowned. "You're… you're not leaving?"

Jess grinned. "Haha, I had you going there for a moment, didn't I, Gilmore!"

Her heart nearly bursting with relief and happiness as she realized that Jess wasn't going anywhere, she couldn't speak for a moment, but finally exclaimed, "That was mean!" finding it difficult to wipe the grin off her face.

Jess smirked. "Well you'd better forgive me quick, because if I have it my way, then we'll be spending a lot more time together from now on. You, know… if that's ok with you." he added hastily, suddenly afraid that she might not actually like him. But Rory's reaction quickly dismissed his fears.

She smiled at him shyly, and nodded. "Yeah, I think that'll be just fine by me."

Jess grinned again, and reached for Rory's hand, pulling her towards him. "I hoped you'd say that." he murmured, and then, hardly daring to believe that he finally had her in his arms, he leaned in for a long-awaited kiss. Rory eagerly slipped her arms around his neck, and closed her eyes, trying to suppress a happy smile.

* * *

"You could stay here longer if you wanted to, you know." Luke told Allie, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to leave straight away."

Allie smiled up at her uncle. "Thanks Luke, but I'd really like to get back home, and see how mom's doing and stuff… but you've been great, you really have. Thanks for everything."

Luke nodded briskly. "Anytime." He pulled Allie to him roughly, hugging her. Just as suddenly as he had grabbed her, he pushed her back to arms length.

He gave a hollow cough. "Ok then. Safe trip."

Allie suppressed a laugh at her uncle's awkwardness with affection. "Thanks Unkey Luke, I'll miss you!" Tiptoeing, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, his face instantly turning red. He muttered something unintelligible, and she just laughed, shaking her head.

"Allie!"

Allie turned around, just in time to be buried in a huge hug of perfume and curly hair.

"Mmmph!" Finally Allie managed to extract herself just enough to breathe.

"Lorelai! Nice of you to come by!"

Lorelai smiled down at the girl. "I thought I was going to miss you, I set my alarm, but I must've slept through it, and I had the wrong time anyway, I thought you were leaving on the next one, not this one, then Rory called to check on me and… well, and now I'm here, and you're leaving soon! I really think I'll miss you!" With a dramatic sigh, Lorelai enveloped Allie in another smothering hug.

"Mom, give the girl some air, would you?" Rory came to Allie's rescue. Lorelai reluctantly pulled away, and seemingly still in a hugging mood, transferred her affections to the unsuspecting Luke, clasping him round the waist and pouting miserably. Luke, caught unawares, just stood stiffly, glancing down in alarm at the Lorelai attached to him.

"It was really nice to meet you, and… and thanks, for, you know… stuff. You should come back and visit, and I can't wait to see the baby!" Rory told Allie earnestly.

The older girl smiled. "Thanks, Rory. Good luck with my weirdo brother, don't take any crap from him. He's lucky to have you around."

The girls gave each other a quick hug, and Allie turned to Jess.

He caught her in a head lock, and ruffled her hair. "I'm gonna come and visit real soon, ok? Just to see how things are. It was cool to have you here." He muttered gruffly, releasing her. She gave him a small shove, then hugged him too. "You got it good here, you know? Don't forget that. I'll miss you."

Allie stepped back quickly, shifting awkwardly under the steady gazes of the people in front of her. "Ok, well then. I should go." She gestured towards the waiting bus, the driver had just fired the engines, he was getting ready to leave.

Rory absentmindedly reached for Jess's hand. 'Ohh, they look cute together.' Allie thought fondly, glad that they had both finally come to their senses. She quickly snapped out of her thoughts, and back to the present moment.

"Thanks for everything, guys. Take care." And before anyone could capture her in another hug, or before it got to the awkward I've-said-goodbye-and-don't-know-what-else-to-say stage, she grabbed her backpack, and quickly made her way onto the bus. She was the last to board, and so, with a quick passenger check, the bus driver started to pull away.

Allie gave a last brief wave at the smiling faces of the people whose lives she had just wandered in on, feeling slightly hollow as she was now wandering back out again. She sighed, thinking about how strange it was that life in Star's Hollow would just continue as normal, and her time there would just merge into her store of memories. Yawning, she closed her eyes, her head bumping gently against the window, and her mind swirling with dreams of Star's Hollow, and Jess and Rory, Luke and Lorelai, and a time when she would see them all again.

* * *

Well, if anyone actually managed to read this far, sorry about the crappy ending!

I just really thought I should wrap this story up, it's been long enough. Anyway, thanks to all you guys who have stuck with this story, and I really appreciate the reviews!


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